Is the Sully/Dubas Plan a Plan to Fail?

It’s become apparent that the Penguins’ new president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and long-time coach Mike Sullivan are working hand-in-hand to retool our favorite hockey team. Much in the same manner as Sullivan and twice-removed former GM Jim Rutherford used to do.

A far cry from the Ron Hextall era, when you got the feeling personnel decisions were made in a vacuum with little input from the coaching staff…or anyone else for that matter.

And that’s a good thing.

I think.

I’d hoped Dubas, who seemed to develop an appreciation for all types of players (including ones with a physical bent) during his tenure in Toronto, would bring those sensibilities to the task at hand in the ‘Burgh. In the process building a more balanced team that could thrive in any type of game against any type of opposition.

He has…sort of. Key free-agent signing Ryan Graves provides a large (6’5” 220) if not overly physical (83 hits last season) stay-at-home presence to the blue line. Noel Acciari certainly adds some spice to the lineup (244 hits) if not size (5’10” 209). However, if the Pens are counting on either guy to serve as their “heavy,” as has been hinted on other sites, they’re sadly mistaken.

Junkyard-dog tough as Acciari is, he isn’t a match for opposing heavyweights like the Islanders Matt Martin. Neither is Graves.

Don’t forget, the Pens bled off arguably their most aggressive and inspirational player from a year ago, heart-and-soul winger Jason Zucker (197 hits, 27 goals).

As for our forward additions? Lars Eller and Reilly Smith have decent size. But Vinnie Hinostroza (5’10” 183), Matt Nieto (5’11” 185) and Andreas Johnsson (5’10” 194) aren’t going to bust any scales.

Neither is puck-moving defenseman Will Butcher (5’10” 190), signed as a depth piece but surely to see some ice time with the big club before all is said and done. If he’s not used as a trade chip, Ty Smith (5’11” 180) likely will, too.

It’s pretty clear the Pens are being tailored to Sullivan’s specifications. The better to play the fast, forechecking, puck retrieval game he favors.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with being speedy. But I wonder if coach and GM were paying close enough attention to last spring’s playoffs. (I’m being facetious…of course they were.) Most of the goals were of the dirty variety struck from the battle areas between the circles.

Slam-bang hockey.

As presently constructed, are we equipped to play that way?

My brain keeps replaying our horrific 5-2 loss to Chicago on April 11, the one that dashed our playoff hopes and snapped our 16-year postseason run in one fell swoop. True to form, we swarmed the Blackhawks’ zone like Mike Lange’s bees buzzing around a hive, piling up a lopsided 81-42 edge in shot attempts and a 40-27 advantage in shots on goal.

Yet for all our manic intensity, we couldn’t penetrate the prime scoring areas. Most of our shots came from the perimeter. I remember thinking Petr Mrazek, the Hawks’ journeyman goalie, looked inordinately cool and poised, as if he was anticipating our shots and knew exactly where they were coming from.

Probably because he was and did.

Again, our foe wasn’t the eventual Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, noted for their airtight defense, but rather the bottom-feeding Hawks, who’d lost 11 of 12 prior to that game while being outscored 54-22. Yet they were able to pack the house defensively and beat us with relative ease.

Fast or not, it’s really difficult to imagine our newcomers breaching that type of d-zone coverage. Or, Acciari and perhaps Eller aside, muscling their way into the prime scoring areas, at least on a consistent basis.

Add Erik Karlsson to the defensive mix as Dubas intends?

I certainly understand the temptation to do so. The Pens have a limited window with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still performing near their best. Karlsson’s a three-time Norris Trophy winner and one of the elite “offensemen” of his generation. I use that term because, for all his marvelous skills, he’s rarely accused of playing effective defense. Much like incumbents Kris Letang and Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

It brings to mind our ’88-89 team. Paced by Mario Lemieux at the very apex of his wondrous abilities and puck-moving d-man Paul Coffey, the Karlsson of his day, the club was an offensive juggernaut, piling up 347 goals. They were also God-awful defensively, yielding 349.

The epitome of unstructured, run-and-gun hockey.

I close my eyes and envision the same dynamic with Karlsson on board.